Christmas Bonanza 2017 | Morton’s Norfolk Turkey

It’s (almost) the most wonderful time of the year – you totally just sang that after reading it, didn’t you? Today I’m here with something that I believe everyone should have at Christmas – turkey. Quite honestly, if you don’t have a Morton’s turkey, or any turkey for that matter, at Christmas who even are you?

For me it’s literally the centre of everything Christmas food related and a duck or a goose just isn’t going to cut it for me. I know, I know, it’s not the ‘traditional bird’ but it’s so good I don’t know why you wouldn’t have it on your plate at least once over the festive period. I mean.. you can’t exactly make a good boxing day curry with leftover goose, can you? Can you over/under cook a goose like you can a turkey? Can you make a good gravy with goose? Ok, maybe you can but I much prefer a nice meaty, turkey gravy.

Morton’s are actually very close to home as they’re based in Norfolk and they produce some of the most delicious free-range turkeys around. I recently received a Norfolk Bronze turkey ahead of Christmas and I went full out and cooked a stunning mid-week roast with it – we had some of the trimmings but not all, I’ll save those for Christmas day.

It was delivered to my door by courier (winner!) in insulated packaging and a box, although you do have the option to collect if you’re relatively close by. There were instructions on how to store it until you cook it and I couldn’t wait for the right day to get this glorious bird into the oven.

Morton’s Traditional Taste Free Range Norfolk Bronze Turkey

The Morton family have been in Norfolk since 1941 but it was in 1998 that they began to specialise in the production of free range and organic poultry. The family are now in their third generation and have been rearing traditional, farm fresh Christmas turkeys for the past 15 years.

Around 800-1500 free range turkeys are reared and are all sold directly to people like you and me at their farm gate, online or by mail order. The range includes Norfolk Bronze, Norfolk Black and Norfolk geese and chickens. They’re not looking to mass produce but aim to offer customers a truly free range turkey that’s been produced in a time honoured fashion.

The Norfolk Bronze turkey I received was absolutely huge. I genuinely didn’t think it was going to fit in my oven but after a bit of shelf shuffling and manoeuvring I got it settled in nicely. I cooked it for almost 4 hours and I can’t even begin to tell you how much meat I pulled off – it was around 3 big platefuls. That’s just one of the things I love about having a whole bird rather than a crown – you get all the meat, white and dark and you don’t miss out on any of the good flavours that comes from the legs.

I think it helps that Morton’s dry-pluck by hand and then leave them to hang in their salt chamber. They’ve specially imported Himalayan salt blocks to create a hanging chamber where the turkeys can mature for a much richer flavour and I think it’s this, coupled with slow growth and free-range life, that really sets Morton’s turkeys apart from anything you could buy in the supermarket.

Using The Whole Turkey

Ok, so you’ve dished up a big Christmas dinner but what do you do with the leftovers? I love using the richer, dark meat of turkeys in curry and I have two seriously delicious boxing day curry recipes for you to try this year.

I mean, after you’ve entered the giveaway below to win your very own Norfolk Bronze in the Christmas Bonanza, you’ll be needing them for the magnificent leftovers. Happy carving!

Turkey and Sweet Potato Curry (serves 2)

Ingredients

Enough leftover turkey to serve you both (preferably dark meat)

2tbsps curry paste (korma works best, but it’s up to you!)

100g red split lentils

1 x tin of coconut milk

2 medium sized sweet potatoes

300ml chicken stock (or turkey stock if you have it!)

Method

Chop the sweet potato into small chunks, probably no bigger than your thumbnail – if you want bigger chunks then you may need to parboil before adding them to the dish.

Add the sweet potato chunks to a large pan and coat with the curry paste.

Add the lentils, coat and mix well with the potatoes and paste.

Pour all of the stock into the pan along with the whole tin of coconut milk.

Once the potatoes and lentils are cooked through and are soft add in your turkey (remember it’s already cooked so you will only need to heat it through)

Serve with some fragrant rice, naan bread or enjoy on its own!

Turkey Masala (serves 4-8)

Ingredients

1kg of turkey

3 medium onions (chopped or processed)

1 inch finely chopped/grated ginger

3-4 cloves finely chopped/minced garlic

5-7tbsp oil/ghee

1tsp cumin seeds

2-3 bay leaves

2 cinnamon sticks

4 black (or 6 green) cardamoms

2tsp ground coriander

2tsp ground cumin

1tsp turmeric (level)

1/2-1tsp chilli powder (level, depending on how hot you like it)

1 level tsp garam masala (level)

Salt (to taste)

4tbsp plain yoghurt

120g pureed tin tomatoes

250ml water

Method

Heat oil in a pan. Add whole spices.

When the cumin seeds start to crackle, add the onions and fry on a high heat. Stir continuously until golden brown.

Turkey, hot on Christmas Day, cold with bubble & squeak on Boxing Day, with chips on the 27th plus numerous sandwiches. I then make a stock with the carcass and strip any remaining meat to make soup. What fantastic value!

I love it all the roast turkey with all the trimmings sprouts roast spuds thick gravy and then christmas pud with brandy butter i look forward to Christmas dinner so much, and then cold meat and pickles for tea yummy